


Blazing

by DaisyQueenYisel



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: F/F, Gen, also i dont wanna put anything too like plot revealy in the tags, but theres a reason why the categories are the way they are, ive cried 40 times and its not even noon, the finale fucked me up so heres my own season 3!!!!! lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-27 12:23:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10020644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyQueenYisel/pseuds/DaisyQueenYisel
Summary: Who does she shine forAnd does she know that she isBurning ever bright?





	1. Episode 1: Forget-Me-Not

**Author's Note:**

> ive tried posting this like four times so yeah
> 
> anyways this literally is an alternate season three so im sorryfdsakflaksjfhaskh
> 
> oh p.s. these first three are prologues???? like in between moments that i really wanted to see but didnt get to in the show so i just.....yeah lmao enjoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i basically wrote myself as moon and it fucking worked and now i got carried away youre welcome

It was getting hot, the nights were getting shorter, and Star was tired, but she was still smiling. Marco was still at the concert with Jackie, they were still kissing, and her heart was breaking, but she was still the best friend a guy could have.

 

“Ooookay, Star!” She said to herself, her voice wavering as she wiped away a tear that she refused to let fall. She gripped her wand tighter and walked back home to the Diaz’s house, and sighed. “You’ll be okay.”

 

Twenty minutes later, she was inside of the Diaz house to find that Marco had called his mother for a ride and gotten home before she did in attempt to search for her. He was in the middle of putting on his sweater frantically as she walked into the dining room.

 

“There you are!” Marco said, enveloping her into a tight hug. He sighed in relief as Star froze up, and Mrs. Diaz noticed. Star simply flashed her a tight smile and patted Marco’s back.

 

“Hey, yeah, here I am!” She said, her voice strained. “Yeah, I’m reaaaally tired, so I think I’ll just-”

 

“Tired?” Marco asked, pushing out of the hug just enough to face Star with a quizzical stare. “We just came back from an awesome concert that had to be evacuated because of some random electrical explosion that trashed the billboard, and you’re tired? I’d think you’d be psyched out of your mind!”

 

Star laughed nervously, and completely pushed him away. “Seems like I’m pretty tired this time.”

 

~

Nothing was okay. Everything was bad bad bad, and Star had a horrible feeling that she really should have seen this coming. Wind pushing at her tight bun, Cloudy humming a discordant tune that only unnerved her even more, she fell onto her back and took out her pins angrily, throwing them into the Mewnan horizon as tears began to well into her eyes. Her hair fell all over Cloudy’s back, and she felt a sensation of relief for a split second, her head being relieved of one headache, before it was quickly replaced with another.

 

“Ruberiot,” She said with an annoyed moan, rubbing her temples. “Why did you listen to me in the first place? I’m a fourteen year old rebellious princess; even _I_ know not to listen to me.”

 

She groaned, cringing as she recalled the beginning of the end of her friendship with Marco.

 

_“A princess under true love’s spell…”_

 

“How could he even put that into the song without telling me! I don’t-I don’t even _like_ Marco!”

 

“You don’t?” Cloudy asked innocently as they whizzed past a grassy hill.

 

Star spluttered, sitting up. “Of cou-I never-How could-?”

 

“Whoopsy, nevermind!” Cloudy said cheerfully. Star huffed, crossing her arms for a few seconds before putting her head into her hands in embarrassment once more.

 

~

 

Her feet landed on the floor of the grand hall of her home with a familiar clack of her boot heels. Her mother took a shaky breath of relief before looking at Star, who was furiously wiping away her tears.

 

“Darling? Oh, I know it must be hard on you to have to leave-”

 

“I liked him, mom.”

 

Moon looked at her daughter in confusion, caught mid-sentence as she stared at Star, who was laughing and crying simultaneously.

 

“I freaked out and told Marco I had a crush on him because I’m probably never going to see him again, and-and-I’m sorry about the song and ruining everything and making the people turn against us and making Toffee come back and-”

 

“Star.”

 

“No, mom, listen, I just-”

 

“Star Auriga Butterfly,” Her mother said, her voice firm and authoritative. Star’s voice cracked as she looked up at her mother, completely heartbroken, and expecting to see a stern queen look down at her wayward daughter. Instead, however, she found that her mother herself was close to tears. Moon reached out to rest a hand on Star’s shoulder, but instead pulled her into a hug.

 

“You did _not_ bring Toffee back,” Her mother breathed into her ear, stroking her hair. “You did nothing that cannot be forgiven, either.”

 

Star’s whined into her mother’s shoulder, beginning to sob. “But the princess song-!and I lost the book and Glossaryck in the first place-”

 

 _“You did nothing that cannot be forgiven,”_ Her mother said fiercely. She held her daughter tighter, and Star’s breath hitched for just a second, letting the words ring in her mind before her heart could no longer bear her emotions any longer, and she cried and cried into her mother’s shoulder.

 

“Mom-Mom, I’m so sorry-”

 

She heard the hall doors open, but she couldn’t stop herself. Her mother didn’t make to move, either. She just stroked her hair, nodding every once in a while to the people who entered into the hall as they spoke about what dangers they were probably in. Star couldn’t hear them over the words her mother whispered to her in a moment between her royal conversations, going from sounding regal and important, to loving and caring in an instant.

 

“These are the times, my Star, that we must depend on family to help us out of the mess we make. There is no shame in asking for help, nor showing your true self, my dear. No shame. I’m so sorry for ever making you think otherwise.”

 

~

 

“Marco!” Jackie called upstairs. Marco could hear her footsteps thud up the stairs, but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to do anything about it. He could only stare in disbelief at the empty, boring room that was rid of any evidence that Star had ever lived there.

 

“Marco! Are you okay?” Jackie asked, jogging into the room in concern. “You totally just took off after Star when she-”

 

“She’s gone. She’s really gone,” Marco said absent-mindedly. “She-We’ve been-No, _I’ve_ been avoiding her, and we never even got to really talk this out. We just made an agreement to forget everything, but she’s...now she’s gone.”

 

“Marco, if you need to, you can talk this out with me in your room, and not here,” Jackie offered. “I don’t...think this is the best place for you to like, vent right now.”

 

“...No.”

 

“...No?” Jackie asked, not exactly positive of whether she was slightly offended or just confused.

 

“I think I just-I need to think about stuff right now,” Marco said, sounding unsure of himself as he said it.

 

“What do you mean? I’m here to listen if you need me to, Marco. You know that,” Jackie said, walking over to him and resting a hand on his shoulder. Marco finally reacted to that, turning to her slowly with a small, growing smile, before it fell, and was replaced with confusion.

 

“I-” He started, gently taking her hand off of his shoulder, “I think I need to think alone? I’m not sure how I feel about you, or Star, or anyone right now, and I think I need to just go to my room now.”

 

“...Um, okay?” Jackie said, definitely starting to feel offended as she pulled her hand away from Marco’s grasp. He looked at her in surprise.

 

“I-I didn’t mean that in a bad way! I just-My best friend just left me probably forever and I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel because she said she has a crush on me and I think she may have left because of me? So-”

 

“So what, Marco?” Jackie said softly. “You can help her-I know you can. But why won’t you let me help _you_?”

 

Marco looked away, completely flustered and frustrated. “I-I just-I don’t know right now. I’m sorry, Jackie.”

 

The two stood there for a moment, completely unaware of the entire mass of people huddled outside of the doorway, listening in to their conversation with Ponyhead and the Diaz’s in front. Marco’s parents motioned for the crowd to turn back, much to Ponyhead’s dismay(“It was just getting juicy, too!”), and the two would never know that most of Echo Creek High had a good hint of what was to happen next.

 

Jackie looked down at the ground and bit her lip.

 

“No. I’m...I’m sorry, Marco. If I can’t help you with this whole magic stuff, or even your whole thing with Star, then I can’t help you.”

 

Marco looked at her gratefully, and was about to thank her for understanding before he saw her grab her arm awkwardly and turn away from his gaze.

 

“Maybe...we should take a break. You’ve got a lot on your plate, and I can’t help you with any of it, so until I _can,_ or until you make up your mind, then...yeah.”

 

She turned around, and Marco could feel his heart drop into his stomach as he heard her sniff quietly, like she was trying to hide it.

 

“I’ll see you around, I guess.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i will update sporadically, but hopefully, this will get to around 20 parts, so ye
> 
> also please comment!!!! i thrive off of comments!!!! tyvm


	2. -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't judge me for throwing my fav hottie(hA) in here i love her too much and i feel like her and star would be best friends

“Wait, Jackie!” Marco shouted after her, as she quickly made her way down stairs. “This isn’t what I meant!”

 

“Marco, please,” Jackie said desperately as she tried to rush away.

 

“No, listen-!”

 

“Marco, you’ve had so many Marco moments in the past two days that I can’t even tell when you’re talking to me or just freaking out!” Jackie said, turning around on the stairs and looking at Marco in exasperation. Marco could see past her that the party was slowly deteriorating, people leaving the house bit by bit in concern or confusion as to what had just happened. Jackie sighed in frustration.

 

“I just...I don’t know. It was weird today already, and then it-You can’t read my mind!”

 

“I can’t read your mind?” Marco said in absolute perplexity. Jackie looked away again, this time her stance a bit less tense and more embarrassed.

 

“You...always seemed to read my mind, you know? You were this nice kid who always knew just what I needed to get myself out of a jam, and then I liked you and I thought I had a chance so I asked you out and it worked out and I-this stupid notion that I had found my-my-” Jackie stuttered, her cool demeanor completely erased as she devolved into a frustrated mess.

 

Marco slowly walked down the stairs, hands up carefully as if he was approaching a dangerous animal. “Found your what?”

 

“My soulmate,” Jackie said, looking away. “You seemed perfect, dude. You listened to me, and you-it was just all so great. I think I just expected too much from you.”

 

Marco’s heart wrenched at that statement. “So I...didn’t live up to your expectations.”

 

The conversations between the partygoers were hushing at an alarming rate, and Marco was smart enough to know that people were listening in to their conversation, but he no longer cared. He had just lost his chance to say goodbye to Star because he cared too much about what other people thought; he was not going to leave this unfinished.

 

“...Yeah, I guess,” Jackie finally answered quietly. “That’s what I meant, when I said you couldn’t read my mind. You had problems with Star, so I tried distracting you to take your mind off it, but I guess that’s just not how you work. I should have known, but I guess I can’t read your mind, either.”

 

“W-We don’t have to read each other’s minds,” Marco said desperately, his voice choking up as he could almost feel Jackie slipping away from him. Jackie just huffed and turned back around downstairs, her footsteps thundering as she headed towards her skateboard leaning by the front door.

 

“Let’s just take a break, okay Marco? I think we both need it,” Jackie said, wiping away a tear and sniffling as she strapped on her helmet. Marco was right behind her, looking desperate for an answer, a magic word to make everything better, so that Star would be back, and nothing was awkward, and Jackie wasn’t mad at him, and-

 

“I’m sorry,” Jackie said to him, finally looking at him. Marco opened his mouth to speak, but he was so overwhelmed, so choked up on his own thoughts, that nothing came out. Jackie pursed her lips and picked up her board, not turning back to face him.

 

“You know where to find me. See you, Marco.”

 

Jackie threw her skateboard down and rode down the path, making a sharp turn onto the sidewalk and disappeared into the night.

 

“Mijo,” Mr. Diaz said as he put his hand on Marco’s shoulder. Marco turned around with a start, but relaxed at the sight of his father’s tired yet supportive smile. “I think we need to talk.”

 

~

 

“Star.”

 

Star awoke with a start. Her eyes blurred with a bright light in her face, and she groaned in annoyance as she rubbed them.

 

“Wh-What do you wa-?”

 

Star caught herself mid-sentence when she found herself face to face with the fiery council member. The sight of a concerned Hekapoo was definitely not what she expected to wake up to, but it wasn’t unwelcome either. What she couldn’t figure out however, was why she was there in the first place.

 

“Hey, princess. Your mom said I could find you here, so I decided to pop in to talk to you. You know, having a heart-to-heart and junk. You look like you could use it, too.” Hekapoo said, keeping a perfectly genuine smile on her face. “You look like a carriage wreck.”

 

Star’s eyes widened in realization as the events of the night before rushed back to her immediately, and she suddenly felt completely exhausted in every part of her body. Her chest ached, her eyes stung, and Star just closed her eyes and groaned in embarrassment. Her head hit the edge of her mother’s throne, and she let her arms flop onto the stone floor beneath her.

 

“Listen, we’ve never even met before Marco got stuck in your dimension for eleven minutes or sixteen years or whatever, so you don’t have to feel like you need to comfort me just because I’m the princess. You probably have better things to do, anyways, since Toffee’s back.”

 

Hekapoo scowled at the mention of his name, but brushed it off just as quickly as it came as she let out a long exhale and closed her eyes as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

 

“Yeah, I do. But I’d rather just talk to you right now. Plus, I have heard a lot from your mother, and I feel like I already know you, since Marco spent sixteen years proclaiming his determination towards getting those scissors back for you. He’s told me a lot about you in battle, things that he probably doesn’t even remember.”

 

She floated next to Star and smiled contently as she closed her eyes, apparently reminiscing. Star sat up awkwardly, unsure if she should initiate a conversation or stay silent. She watched as Hekapoo stretched., like she was preparing for a nap herself.

 

“I never knew such a cute-looking girl like you could attract so much trouble,” Hekapoo yawned, her tone pensive. Once she stopped, however, she rolled her eyes and smiled smugly, laying a hand on her chest as she slumped down beneath the thrones. “Well, yeah, I did. I mean, _I_ get my fair share of trouble.”

 

Star laughed softly at that joke. “Yeah, it’s kind of like the cuter you are, the more danger you get in!”

 

Hekapoo smiled lazily, her eyes closed as she patted Star on the head with a flaming hand. Star winced, but said nothing about it as Hekapoo hummed.

 

“Now you’re getting it. So, you...wanna tell me what else is getting you down?”

 

“What do you mean?” Star said with a false cheerfulness. “I just feel really bad about Toffee coming back and stuff.”

 

“And having to come back to Mewni,” Hekapoo said, turning onto her side to face Star. She glanced at the flame above her head, casting a low, candle-like light between the two of them, and Star turned her gaze down her her curious-looking arms, with spikes like a dragon lining their sides.

 

“I mean, yeah, I’m a little sad,” Star admitted, though she kept up her cheerful demeanor as best she could. “But I know that if I never go back, that’s okay, too!”

 

Hekapoo raised an eyebrow. “Thats…? That’s a weird thing to say.”

 

“Is it?” Star laughed nervously. Hekapoo shook her head, as if disappointed.

 

“Star, I know you probably miss Marco,” Hekapoo said exasperatedly. “So why are you trying to seem like you aren’t?”

 

Star shuffled uncomfortably, placing her hands in her lap as she crossed her legs.

 

“Star, did something happen between Marco and you?”

 

Star took a deep breath. “I mean...I guess you could call it that?”

 

“What do you mean ‘you guess’? Like, did he-Oh!” Hekapoo said, sitting up. She put on a silly bravado with a hand to her chest. “Confess his undying love to you in front of his girlfriend?”

 

“What? No!” Star exclaimed, laughing at her facade with rosy cheeks. Hekapoo snickered.

 

“I mean, I wouldn’t put it past him to. He kind of spent sixteen years dedicated to saving your hide, basically.”

 

“No, no, that didn’t happen. It was more like…the other way around.”

 

“The other way around?” She repeated, now laying on her stomach with her cheeks propped up in her hands. Her expression was curious, but gave nothing else away about what she knew from that comment. “Wanna explain what that means?”

 

“Uh, well,” Star said in growing embarrassment, curling a strand of hair nervously. “I told him I had a crush on him.”

 

Hekapoo’s jaw dropped, her eyes wide. She brought a hand up to her mouth, and said in a complete monotone voice, “Whoa. No way. I had no idea you had a crush on him.”

 

Star looked at her in annoyance. “It can’t have been that obvious.”

 

“You were drooling looking at his sick abs like, right in front of me.”

 

Star’s eyes widened at the memory of that moment, and put her face into her hands, groaning in embarrassment.

 

“There, there,” Hekapoo said as she patted her head once again with a flaming hand. Star didn’t even care, dragging her hands down her face in frustration.

 

“It’s just-I tried so hard not to even like him in the first place! And I tried choosing to like Oskar, but I just-I don’t know!” She whined. Hekapoo rolled her eyes.

 

“Uh, that’s not how love works, ya nerd.”

 

“Love? I never-I never said I was-” Star sputtered, which simply caused Hekapoo to laugh, holding her stomach with one hand as she dried a fake tear from her uncovered eye.

 

“Oh, I knew that’d get you all blushy,” She said with a laugh. Star scowled at her, which just caused her laugh even more.

 

“Don’t look so mopey about it! You Mewmans look too funny when you do! Okay, uh, look,” Hekapoo said, trying to calm her laughter. “What did he say? Does he like you back? Is that why you’re so broken up about leaving?”

 

“No. He really loves Jackie,” Star said quietly, rubbing her hands over the cloth of her dress over and over. The repetitive motion soothed her, but she still couldn’t help feeling like crying all over again.

 

“...Wow. That really sucks.”

 

Star laughed dryly. “It really does!”

 

Hekapoo turned onto her back and blew a strand of hair from the front of her face. “I guess it just means that you guys have to learn a lot more about each other.”

 

“...What do you mean?” Star said curiously as she rubbed her eyes.

 

“Well, yeah. Like, he didn’t even know you liked him, and you probably didn’t think that him knowing made him all confused, right?”

 

“Well, I knew he’d be awkward about it, which is why I avoided telling him in the first place-”

 

“No, not awkward, but confused. Like, he probably doesn’t know how to feel about you now.”

 

“...You mean, he won’t want to be my friend anymore?” Star said, her voice small and fearful. Hekapoo shook her head, her hair pressed onto the floor under her head as she did so.

 

“No, I don’t think he’d change his mind like that. Like, you like him, but he’s still your best friend, right?”

 

“Well, yeah.”

 

“Then yeah, he wouldn’t do that,” Hekapoo said, waving away the notion with a flick of her hand. “It’s just that he’s going to be confused because now he’s actually going to think about how he feels about you.”

 

“...Oh,” Star said quietly, her expression slightly hopeful.

 

“Yep,” Hekapoo said as she sat up and smoothed out her dress. “But you know, whatever.”

 

Standing up, Hekapoo twirled her scissors in her hands and made a swift cut up, opening a flaming orange portal.

 

“Your mom wants you to come up to the floral grounds, by the way.”

 

“Oh, okay,” Star answered absent-mindedly, standing up with a thoughtful look. Hekapoo smiled at her expression, and sighed contently, seemingly satisfied with this result.

  
“See you laters, princess,” Hekapoo said with a lazy peace sign, before sticking her tongue out affectionately and stepping through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JUST LET STAR BE HAPPY


	3. -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this thing is 2888 words long holy fuck

Star sang to herself as she stepped up the stone stairs rhythmically, creating a slow but sweet song that was a little off-tune, but cheerful nonetheless. Her hand stroked the cool brick wall, and she continued to croon quietly as she made her way up to the very top of her castle.

Her song turned to a low hum as she pondered her current situation for the first time in months, and had a clear enough head to do it. She had been gone for almost a year. She had been on trips before, and even spent two months away in the Demonscape with Tom, and every single time, she would get terribly homesick; yet, the Diaz’s made her feel right at home, and she was so preoccupied with her own mini-adventures with Marco that she didn’t even have time to be homesick. She was usually so exhausted by the end of every single day that’d she sleep right until she had to go to school the next morning, though Marco had no idea of this.

Being back home, though? It was one of the best feelings ever. It felt like every single tear she could cry would be wiped away, like a breath of fresh air, like-

Well, it felt like home.

The stairs suddenly broke into a large hall that led to three steps of stairs, but Star just skipped to the center one, which headed down in a dizzying spiral.

“One, two, three, one, two, three, three, three, three!”

She broke into a quick sprint, leapt up into the air, and landed perfectly on the rail, sliding down at an invigorating speed. Her laughter bounced off of the walls, and she closed her eyes as she tensed up and whooped in glee.

“I missed you, spiral staircase!” Star shouted happily as her hair whipped in front of her face. Her voice echoed curiously, and the strange experience was so familiar that she couldn’t help but laugh again.

Her hands used to be calloused from the many times she used to do this as a child, but a year of walking around and fighting has made them grow a bit soft. They burned as she kept her grip on the smooth marble, but she didn’t really mind. It had been a while since she felt this happy, after all.The rush of wind that chilled her skin and made her feel wide awake, the eventual rug burns that would make her hands cherry red, and the aches from grinning perpetually afterwards were all so wonderful to her, she was almost ready to cry tears of joy.

The end of the spiral was coming up, Star knew it from experience, and she opened her eyes and grinned, her body crouching as she prepared to stick a perfect landing. She could see the large wooden doors that led to the Royal floral grounds, and lifted her hands off of the rail to brace herself for her fall. Her heart swelled with sweet nostalgia and pure adrenaline, and she counted down her landing.

“One, two-!”

“Star? Are you-Oh, good heavens!” Her mother exclaimed as she pushed open one of the wooden doors. Star jumped, startled, and lost her balance on the rail at the last second.

“Whoa, whoa-!” Star exclaimed, her stomach dropping as she flailed off of the rail and headed straight for her mother, who, out of surprise, simply stepped to the side to avoid her missile of a daughter. Star landed face first with a loud thud, her hair engulfing her head and her dress crumpled underneath her raised legs.

“Star! Are you okay?” Her mother fretted, bending down to touch Star, until Star suddenly whipped her head up at breakneck speed, and flashed a grin at her mother as she pushed herself off of the ground with a bounce.

“Whoo, rail slide! Oh, I missed those!” Star exclaimed. Her mother simply stared at her in what she couldn’t tell was just confusion, or awe. She shook her head, and pushed herself back up as well, standing straight with a crooked smile.

“Seems like you’re in a better mood.”

Star looked up at her mother, who was smiling genuinely at her, and she smiled back, a little sheepish. She took a quick once over her mother, and realized with a bit of surprise that her faintly blue hair was down, and she was wearing a simple blue dress that made her seem so uncharacteristically relaxed that she didn’t know how to react. Star however, took this to be a positive, most likely temporary change, and decided not to comment on it. She shrugged nonchalantly.

“I guess so.”

Her mother put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, using the other the smooth down her dress. “Well, I’m glad for it. Now, clean yourself up a bit before we step out onto the grounds, and leave your boots here.”

Star nodded, sitting back down onto the floor with a thud, though her impact was less remarkable than her initial one. She pulled off her bare-toothed boots and set them to the side, stuffing her socks inside of them and following after her mother into the gardens as she tried to keep herself from slipping.

Her bare foot stepped into the soft yet moist soil of the gardens, and she could automatically feel the strange magic that the vast and varying plants emanated without restraint, as if her presence was cleansing her very soul. The air was filled with the aroma of what seemed like serenity in its purest form, and it made her heart glow. She smiled softly as she followed her mother down a path of blue flowers that she had seen a type of on Earth. She watched her mother’s hair drift past their blossoms, some loose locks whipping around like leaves in the wind.

It was a strange environment in the Royal Floral Grounds. There were magical plants of every kind, ranging from the dangerous vicious Venus Lie Traps that plague the forest of Certain Death, rumored to have been sent down by a scorned goddess to eat any Mewman who dare tamper with wildlife, to the smallest of lucky clovers, which were kept and given as gifts to those the Royal family saw fit. Even it’s position was unusual, being not only at the top of the castle, but hanging off of it on a flat ground, where any normal being who could not fly would definitely meet a gruesome fate if they ran too fast or weren’t careful. The horizon was full of clouds and sun, too peaceful to really consider to be the last thing you’d see before you died, and it was for a reason: only a Butterfly could ever survive training up here.

But the main attraction and purpose of the gardens was its main flora, which were the Healers. These were the oldest plants alive, and the earliest plants known, that cleansed magic, and sent it renewed back into the air. Star usually came here when she was young, since the pure magic was said to stimulate a Butterfly’s own. She had fond memories of sneaking in past her allotted time and feeling absolutely alive under moonlit skies and glittering stars.

“-ar? Did you hear me?” Moon called, farther away than Star last remembered.

“Oh, sorry!” Star called back, racing down the muddy path between the swaying lines of now glowing flowers towards her mother. Her mother simply laughed as she watched stumbled through the soft mud, forgetting to pick up the hem of her dress as it became stained with the soil.

“Come along, my comet,” Her mother laughed, waving her towards the end of the garden and towards an open area just past the final flowering stalks. Star slowed her pace to a sudden stop, confused.

“We’re going...in the arena?” Star asked to no one in particular. Her arms were bristling with goosebumps, but these were no longer chills from the thin air.

She leaned forward, beginning to walk to the forbidden arena that she had snuck into only once before as a child.

It was midnight, and Star had always managed to sneak into the floral grounds before. This night, however, was dedicated to satiating her impatient curiosity about the Artemis Arena, which she had been told once again to never enter before her mother deemed her fit to do so.

The bluebells were supposed to be dormant, covered in the snow of a particularly cruel blizzard. It was Star’s seventh winter, a time where you’re too young to care about the cold and too preoccupied with folly and your own imagination to care. She stepped out into the gardens with barefeet, and raced her way down the line of bluebells, tapping every single plant and giggling as she saw a result that only ever seemed to happen when she was alone. Her chest would swell with pure joy, and she could feel magic leaving her fingertips in golden swirls, and waking up the dormant bluebells only to make them glow bright like stars fallen to the ground below. Her giggles seemed to be matched with the flower’s own smiles as her small feet smashed into the soil near them, and she made her way towards the forbidden arena. Her hands met the last bluebell, and with a determined look and a deep breath, she jumped into the arena.

It was stone, surrounded by seven arching pillars that were wrapped in vines. The rock was cracked and old, and yet seemed like it could hold the heaviest of damage against an entire army, and still stay standing. In its center was a mosaic of blue stones, shaped to look like the three Royal Crests: The Moon, the Sun, and the Star. Star gasped as the star emblem flickered to life with a low blue light show, and the entire arena was covered in the blue stars that she could see from above. She laughed excitedly and hopped towards the other crests, tapping her hands on the other two to see what they did. They stayed dim, no matter how many times she patted them, and she soon became irritated with them until the stars seemed to pull off of the floor.

Laughing playfully, she tried grabbing them, waving her hands up high as she could reach, but found they would phase through her hands. She swatted at them over and over again, trying to find if she could get a different result, but to no avail.

Then, she suddenly had a gut feeling tug at her. It seemed both familiar and strange, like finding a family heirloom hidden away for years. She closed her eyes, and let the feeling wash over her. She scrunched her nose in concentration, though not particularly sure on what, and felt a sudden rush of adrenaline coursing through her body, like icicles stabbing into her veins.

She gasped, eyes opening in surprise, and was met with a flash of blinding white light before it scattered, and she was met with darkness once again, with her only light being the faint glow her body seemed to give off, but was accompanied with the faint sound of what resembled shards of glass meeting the stone floor. Star looked around her, and took a sharp breath in admiration.

“Whoa,” she breathed, voice full of awe as she took in the sight of jagged diamonds laying across the floor, an unexpectedly beautiful bounty glittering in the night. Suddenly, sirens pierced the air, frightening her out of her seemingly heavenly state. She yelped in surprise, and looked around in a panic. There was no one around her, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case for long. Covered in the dark of the evening sky, she rushed out of the arena, uncaring of the mud that splattered onto her legs as she ran. She pushed open the large doors, grabbed her boots, and Star ran into the secret pathway she had managed to find, and stacked the bricks up one by one as quickly as she could. With a final grunt, she placed the last stone onto the pile and pushed it in, and with the same gut feeling as before, saw a pink magic seal the bricks into the wall. Panting, she listened her her quick heartbeat and ragged breaths, and gulped, unsure of what trouble she had caused.

She never was able to get to the gardens through that passage again. The seal was permanent.

“Yes, we’re going to the arena,” Her mother said, beckoning her to step inside. She remained on its border, as if afraid of tainting its center. “Come in, come in! It’s time for you to see what all the fuss this past week has lead up to.”

“What do you mean?” Star asked warily, slowly stepping towards the arena once again. Her mother held her hand out, and Star took a quick step forward to take it. She pulled her in, and Star felt a jolt of energy surge into her, and she looked at her mother in surprise, who was smiling proudly, her eyes closed in content.

“This, my dear, is where we assess a Butterfly’s magic potential. Your assessor, Baby, if you remember, has let me know that she has high hopes for your magic, matching even, er,” Moon said, opening her eyes and trailing off. “The most...magically capable queen we’ve ever had. So I will-”

Moon looked past Star, her expression frozen as she stared at the horizon. Star cocked her head in confusion.

“Uh, mom?” She said quizzically. Her mother remained frozen in place, mouth agape. Her eyes weren’t glazed over; they were actually widening, though why Star had yet to know. She waved a hand in front of her face before turning around.

“What’s wrong? You, uh, see something weird?” She voiced, before her eye caught the familiar sight of the three emblems she had seen during her childhood. The star glowed with light so powerful, however, that it rivaled the sun that was setting just beyond the arena.

“Impossible,” Her mother breathed. “You’d have to have passed a challenge, b-but even then, even I have only reached the Moon-!”

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Star said with growing worry. Guilt nudged at the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it aside as her mother looked like she had seen a ghost.

“There are three levels of magic,” Her mother said, her voice low and slow. “The Moon is only the first level. It merely detects whether or not you have magic or not, by challenging you to sense magic yourself. This is common among peasants, and found among even some past queens, to where their reign is more focused on political peace than war. However, there have been some, such as myself,” She laughed dryly, “Who have been able to manipulate magic. We are considered the level of the Sun, which is the source of magic itself. However, as you know, the Sun is not a normal star. It is a dwarf, and therefore us Sun magic warriors may use magic, but only to our physical limits. But the full potential of magic, known as the Star level...that is magic without limits. You...you have no physical limits; magic can be maintained by you until you mentally exhaust yourself, but no matter how damaged you get, no matter how physically restrained you may seem, magic will always be available to you. It is even said that Star level warriors can revive themselves from death.”

Star stared at her mother, unable to fully process this bombshell. Her mother met her gaze, her face expressionless, but her eyes both fearful and hard.

“This level of magic is comparable to a goddesses’. Only Queen Eclipsa had ever reached this level, at the age of seventeen.”

“Seventeen?” Star squeaked, the color draining from her face. She was only seven when she had snuck in this arena, how could she already-?

“My queen! Princess!” Rhombulus called out from the gates, preventing Star from knowing anymore. He skidded past the entrance as he threw off his shoes and jogged down the aisle. “We have a-! Whoa, are you two okay?”

Rhombulus slowed his pace as he saw the stricken expressions of the two royal women, and looked back and forth between the two. Moon was the first to snap out of it, reaching into a hidden pocket of her dress and pulling her hair up into a simple bun.

“What is the matter?” She said, her voice controlled and without a trace of the fear it held only seconds ago.

"Uh, yeah..." Rhombulus trailed off hesitantly, before he cleared his throat and stood up straight. “Sorry, uh--Ludo is here, my Queen.”

Star finally snapped out of her stupor at the sound of that name turning to her mother in complete bewilderment.

“Ludo? How-? Why would he be back?" She said, glancing nervously between him and her mother. After hearing of the council's deadly encounter, she wasn't sure she was ready to face all out war in the next two minutes. However, her mother refused to mention something about Ludo's power that still confused her; she would only say that it had to do with Toffee.

A shadow passed over her mother’s face for a split second, but before Star could even think what for, she shook her head and beckoned her to follow her.

“We will speak of this later. We have to find out what... _Ludo_ is here for, or else we'll be in a world of trouble."

**Author's Note:**

> i will update sporadically, but hopefully, this will get to around 20 parts, so ye
> 
> also please comment!!!! i thrive off of comments!!!! tyvm


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